First impressions of Portimao are of a big, high rise town with lots of holiday apartments. But it has a lovely beach with loads of restaurants along a boardwalk and is situated on the West side of the Arade river that runs up to Silves.
Whilst our car park is heaving with vans, it is enormous and there
is much more room than if you were in a proper campsite. Also, it is close to the beach.
The wind is still very northerly and chilly, but out of it, people are wearing shorts and t shirts and most of our neighbours are now well tanned.
Spent a relaxed day on the beach mostly and then back to change for our Valentine dinner. There are hundreds of restaurants in Portimao, and we sort of already know that we are not really going to the MARINA LOUNGE for the best food in town. But the atmosphere is lovely and ritzy. There are about 20 people in the restaurant and a one man band keyboard player/ singer who did an excellent job. I had the set Valentine meal, and JC had a different main. My food was not good. A well known national newspaper was reviewing a well known Whitstable restaurant a couple of years ago, and suggested that diners would be better off eating an Ugg boot. Well, I suppose even that would taste of something! The food Looked great but just had absolutely no taste. However, I can sympathise with the chef. Shopping for meat in Portugal has been a bit hit and miss.
We bought some great looking kebabs when we first arrived In the Algarve. They were made up of large square chunks of meat with peppers and onions like you would find in Tesco, only twice the size. JC celebrated the purchase by buying a small, portable Barbie and sat outside in the freezing cold and dark for 45 minutes waiting for them to cook. Or at least change colour. They were tough, so I sat outside for another 30 minutes and they blackened up a bit but tasted like the said boot. I binned mine and JC exercised his jaw a bit before doing the same. We gave the Barbie, the charcoal and the firefighters away the next day to our neighbour.
I wanted to make a chicken and orange casserole using Vilja' oranges, for when my sister came to stay. The market at Fuseta has a good meat section and the chickens were at one end. They have their legs sort of hanging down rather than being folded up close to the body, so I wan't sure they were chicken at first. Also, the word ' pollo' in Spanish seemed to have changed to 'frango' in portugese which didn't 't seem to be at all close. And finally they were bright yellow. Anyway, I looked around for some thigh joints and decided to ask. Firstly, I always ask if they speak English. Just in case. But I was get the same reply. NO So, I stand on tip toe so that the butcher can see me better over the counter and rub my hands down either side of the top of my right leg repeating the word 'thigh', a couple of times. He frowns and holds the chicken upside down so it looks a bit like a rag doll and asks 'frango? Hmm, I am now thinking of maybe asking for some breasts but .... don't think so! I'll just take the whole thing then. Thank You. Could you joint it? As I say this I hold my arm out in front of me horizontally with my hand in the vertical plane, and bring it down like a chopping movement. The butcher lies the Frango down and holds the knife in line with its breast bone, from its neck to its parsons nose. CHOP. The bird falls apart like an Easter egg. Ahhh, again please. He pulls the two halves together, swivels it around 90 degrees and chops it in half as if making quarters of a cucumber sandwich. Oh, well. It will taste ok, just be a bit odd to serve up.
On another occasion, Jc bought some steak to make a beef curry. We were assured it came from the rib region judging by the charades acted out by the butcher. Suffice to say that we prepared it, cooked it, tasted it, then froze it, and finally boiled it for an hour with some paprika and had it as a Hungarian Goulash. It was still tough.
It would be wrong to give the impression though that we are wasting away. I am just eating more peanuts before dinner in case of any culinary mishaps.
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Location:Portimao
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